


A Game of Catch

by Sisyphus Shrugged (fugitivebottom)



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Character Study, Light Angst, M/M, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:01:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27125578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fugitivebottom/pseuds/Sisyphus%20Shrugged
Summary: Zagreus is throwing Varatha at Skelly, but his mind is wandering elsewhere.
Relationships: Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 68





	A Game of Catch

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short character study I wanted to get out as my first contribution to the fandom.

Zagreus stands in the armory, lazily twirling Varatha in each hand. His head is tilted back just so, his gaze pointed down his nose at Skelly. A bubble of apprehension sits beneath his ribs. By now, he’s somewhat used to slaying both the living--vermin, at least--and the dead, but generally they don’t speak back to him in coherent sentences. Or seem to enjoy it quite as much as his bloodless, fleshless friend. Is it enjoyment really, though? Or merely something to pass the time?

With a shake of his head, Zagreus compels his mind to clear. He pulls Varatha into position beside his head, and throws it at the skeleton’s midsection. The point of the spear hits him square in the middle of his would-be stomach, touching the vertebrae behind. Skelly collapses into a mass on the floor, his ribcage sitting atop his pelvis.

“Good job, boyo. Almost felt that,” Skelly says, pulling Varatha free as he wills his bones upright again. He gives the spear back to Zagreus, starting the game of catch anew.

The fire-stepping prince raises an eyebrow at him. “You know I can just call it back to my hand, right?”

“Listen, mortal habits die hard. Can ya blame me?”

“No, I suppose not.” Again Zagreus throws Varatha, to similar effect. Skelly falls, this time with a shattered sternum. Within moments, though, he’s good as new. This continues several times over until Zagreus no longer hears the words the skeleton says. They fall in mumbles upon his ears. His mind wanders to Thanatos, to their last conversation. Thanatos said that if Zagreus found out what he was to him, to let him know. The rabble-rousing prince still isn’t sure.

What he does know is that he values his time with Thanatos. He values the friendly competition, the way Thanatos cares for him even as he reprimands his behavior. The worry behind that cold exterior. While he hates to be the cause of it, he sees no other choice. However, if the positions were reversed, why, he might feel the same way.

Not that he could be the god or incarnate of anything. His upbringing made that crystal clear. He can’t be trusted with responsibility. Nor does he want to be, he thinks. That is the rub. He can think of nothing that tastes more like responsibility than the care of Thanatos’s heart.

Then he has a decision to make. He can shirk everything as he’s always done, or he can follow the thread the Fates seem to be tugging for him. Pulling him toward his lifelong friend, the man who lately has put butterflies in his stomach and upon his laurel. The man to whom he gifted six bottles of nectar. And that settles it, doesn’t it? Someone needs to help him learn to live a little and use all that nectar.

Zagreus is smiling when he finally hears Skelly’s voice. “Hey, boyo!” Skelly calls. “You stopped throwing!”

He realizes the spear is in his hand, lowered to his side. He looks at it for a moment, then back to Skelly. “You know what, mate? I think it’s time to head out.”


End file.
